I am currently using the Royal Bank of Canada for my Canadian funds and Volksbank for my German funds, but I am thinking about switching to the credit union when I get back to Canada.
Whats so important about changing to a credit union in Canada? I can understand the issue in the US, but Canada has completely different banking laws. For example, banks are split up into seperate consumer and investment banks. It is illegal for the investment bank to touch anything you placed in your chequing account. This seperation, combined with GIC's (guaranteed investment certificate) is why Canadians did not have a bad time during the banking crisis in 08'.
Edit: I use CIBC, and I like it because I do not have to pay any fees for things like interac, overdraft, or private bank machines (I get $10 credit, every month, towards private bank machines).
Haha, I'm actually not sure yet. I only really know the overarching idea of a credit union, and that's why I need to research more when I get back home. Although I do think the idea of a credit union sounds really good, I need to know more about them and how they differ from regular banks. I know a few friends with an account so I will ask them and do some research.
I didn't know that about canadian Banks, that's really interesting. I know that banking in the States sounds pretty different and it's another reason why I'm glad I don't live there, hehe. (no offense to the American duders! It's still a great country!)
The Canadian banks have a ton of regulations that stop them from investing unwisely - and regulations to stop banks from issuing mortgages to people who really can't afford to own a house. These are the same regulations that prohibited them from partaking in the sub prime mortgage thing that set off the '08 recession. We still got a recession, and many lost their jobs, but for the most part, we never got the resulting slew of foreclosures and defaults that the US did, and our recovery was quicker. Though in the end, what happens in the US, happens here - 75% of all Canadian exports end up in the US.
That said, our banks are still greedy buggers (cant hide from that sadly), but the invisible foot of government control has a bit more kick up here.
Aside from nationwide ATM/interac services, there aren't really all that many differences between a big bank and a credit union for the typical account holder except perhaps slightly different rates of return on RRSPs and other investment products. Many credit unions here have agreements with each other that ties them all together in a sort of network - so you can use an ATM at any of them without extra fees.
I love seeing all of the USAA love. I use them primarily, but I also use Navy Federal for depositing cash and to make my savings more difficult to access.
I've used Bank of America since 2008, but would like to switch to a credit union in the near future.
Though, I've heard certain credit unions impose daily spending limits and I am not cool with that. I'd never let a bank tell me how much of my money I could spend in one day.
I have an account at a state employee credit union plus some local bank that I don't use anymore but I'm too arsed to close it. I also have Scotiabank because when I was told that each bank is equally shit, I had to go with the odd one out that really makes an effort to be bad.
I for some reason have stuck with Bank of America for my primary checking, and I have my oldest credit card through them which I feel inclined to keep for the sake of my credit score even though I only use the card just often enough to not have it canceled due to inactivity. I moved pretty much all of my savings over to Ally a few years ago and will probably at some point move there for checking as well.
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